184 In Touch with Nature. 



than double that of the cedar in the lane. There 

 is no reason to consider that its growth has been 

 forced by peculiarly favorable conditions. It is 

 simply a magnificent example of what a tree may 

 become if a fair chance is shown it. I have 

 suggested that the tree may be nearly or quite one 

 thousand years old, and I believe it. Peter Kalm, 

 when wandering in the Jersey wilderness in 1749, 

 noticed the cedars carefully, and mentions the fact 

 of " very slow growth ; for a stem thirteen inches 

 and a quarter in diameter had one hundred and 

 eighty-eight rings, or annual circles, and another, 

 eighteen inches in diameter, had at least two hun- 

 dred and fifty, for a great number of the rings 

 were so fine that they could not be counted." 



Of course, much of the beauty of this huge, 

 lone, sea-side cedar is lost in being so hemmed in 

 by other growths, and it is a startling fact that, if 

 the rambler was not very open-eyed, he might 

 pass it by unheeded. Think of what wealth of 

 wonders are in every wood, and that so few persons 

 find them : what a staggering array of marvels in 

 a forest laid bare ! 



I would that Kalm, whom I have just quoted, 



